The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
